Aged components / service!?

Add it all up, certainly best to buy brand new with warranty and live with it forever.
If your going to spend  it money on used anything then have it serviced well that could add up to a brand new piece 😏 I guess add it up whatever your willing to spend..

I don’t understand all this hard and fast ’if it’s over 10 years old don’t buy it’ nonsense. Same for the people who are so completely sure that their new equipment, by virtue of its new engineering, is light years ahead of, let’s say for sake of argument, a fantastic, top of the line late ’90s/early ’00’s setup.
In fact, as a benchmark, I rarely come across the thrill of capturing how good early Levinson sounded or Maggie 3.6's or the breathtaking magic of a Pass Aleph 3- for all the engineering evolution that gets touted by the new salesman who have some goods to sell and ads to place.

roadwhorerecords

Depends on the manufacturer. Companies like Dynaco and Hafler seem timeless.

I built a Halfer DH-101 and DH-200 in college almost 40 years ago and they still work great. Built like a tank. I've since moved up the food chain, but did use them for many years as my main system, and have kept them for sentimental reasons.

Bought my Carver in the 80s. I sent in to the Carver repair & they vastly improved it. Better than new.

Would it be absurd to send an amp that I don’t have any particular complaints about back to the factory for a refresh? My CODA-built amp is from the late 90’s/early 2000’s and I’ve been toying with the idea, wondering if maybe I couldn’t be getting more out of it.